In the food industry, particular in relation to commercially prepackaged and prepared foods or restaurants, businesses are turning to faster methods of cooking food in a uniform manner. In addition, such businesses are seeking to streamline operations including cleanup operations and are seeking to reduce the risk of employee injury. However, particular cooking processes and particular food products pose problems associated with grease splatter or aggressive boiling.
For example, meat products produce a combination of grease and water when cooked, leading to grease splatter. Such splatter can increase efforts to maintain a clean system. Grease splatter build-up can lead to fires and sanitation issues. Also, splatter of hot grease can pose a danger to employees.
In an example, commercially prepackaged food products or commercially precooked foods can be cooked on a cooking belt. In another example, meat can be cooked on a flat surface (i.e., standard stove configuration) with heat only from below. The release sheet prevents sticking of the meat or meat juices to the cooking surface. Reduced sticking results in reduced effort used to scrape meat off the surface. The reduced sticking also reduces burnt residue that is to be scraped off the cooking surface so that subsequent meat to be cooked will not stick.
In another example, meat can be cooked on a two-sided grill, which supplies heat from both the top and bottom. Absent a non-stick surface on the belt or grill, meat products can stick to surfaces or be ripped into two pieces when a grill is opened. Accordingly, industry has turned to non-stick cooking surfaces.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.